Helvetica Turns 50, Bores Arial with Stories of its Youth

Honestly, Helvetica, you hardly look a day over 45. The font, described by The Guardian as, "the world's most ubiquitous typeface," celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, with increasingly bold birthday parties, ranging from a huge cake in Zurich...

Honestly, Helvetica, you hardly look a day over 45. The font, described by The Guardian as, "the world's most ubiquitous typeface," celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, with increasingly bold birthday parties, ranging from a huge cake in Zurich to a big "H" made of Swiss cheese in Philadelphia--and then, of course, there's the movie.

The British paper has a nice profile on 42-year-old first-time director Gary Hustwit, and the font on which he based his eponymous documentary. The film, created on a shoestring budget, made its debut in Austin, back in March, and has been touring the world, ever since.

Helvetica will be showing in Oxford, England, starting next week, and is currently on display at the MoMA in New York City.

Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
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